'Lord of the Rings' stars Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Sean Astin have spoken out against racist comments from 'fans' of the series after seeing racist comments on Amazon's 'Lord of the Rings'. The series, which premiered its first two episodes on September 2 to critical acclaim and 25 million viewers worldwide, has been criticized by racist fans who are outraged by the casting of black actors in the lead roles. Wood, Boyd and Monaghan posed in different skin tones wearing t-shirts with Middle-earth creature ears. "Please," Wood said in a statement.
Sean Astin tweeted a photo of himself wearing a hat with the same design.
Wood provided a link to his online store where fans can purchase the shirt with the above design. The store also sells sweatshirts and other clothing with similar graphics. The shirt pictured is priced at $22. According to the online store, "50% of proceeds go to charity in support of the POC."
Rings of Power debuted shortly after HBO's Game of Thrones prequel, which was criticized by racist fans for its focus on black actors. Several Hollywood celebrities spoke out against the racist backlash.
It's confusing because the fiction includes lands, dragons, creatures, and all sorts of people, from giants to hobbits and elves. Lovers understand all this, but brown and black are very uncomfortable to understand. If so, I don't know how to help you, but stop complaining because no one thinks this is your problem.
Lord of the Rings. New episodes of Ring of Power will air starting Friday, October 14th.
